IST2027-1OL-SP14 - Mission and Evangelism in Contemporary Context

Please Introduce Yourself by March 28th

Technology Needed for this Online Course:  About 10 hours per week access to a computer on a highspeed internet connection (in order to access the course site on Canvas, as well as Twitter.com and Google+). 

For group work on Google+ you must have either 1) an internet connection that allows you to be on the phone while you are online on the website OR 2) (preferred) a working microphone on your computer and audio headphones or earbuds so that the speakers on your computer are silent. (Otherwise your microphone picks up the sound from your speakers and we get awful feedback loops.) Your MP3 player earbuds will work just fine for this.

If you have challenges with the technology requirements, please consult with Cathie or Tom in the first week of the course.

This IS an online course, so we can’t be very flexible about the basic requirement for internet access.

please read!

Books and Other Readings

Three books are required for everyone:

1. Harnish, James. You Only Have to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2004. ISBN-10 0687066883   ISBN-13: 9780687066889        $12.59 at Cokesbury.com; same for Kindle version

2. Block, Peter. Community: The Structure of Belonging . Berrett-Koehler Pub., 2009.  ISBN 10-9780687066889 ISBN-13-978-1605092775     paper $12.77 amazon.com; $9.49 for Kindle version

3. Block, Peter. The Answer to How is Yes: Acting on What Matters. Berrett-Koehler Pub., 2003. ISBN-10 -1576752712  ISBN-13-978-1576752715   paper $12.41  Kindle $12.49

Two additional articles required for everyone will be posted within the secure portion of Canvas.

Two additional books are required, each chosen from two different lists:

In addition to the books required of everyone, each student will select one book in each of two categories. Each book will be discussed at a particular Google Hangout time and date - you will want to wait to purchase any of these books until you know which group you are able to meet with. These meetings begin in the 4th week of the term, so there is time to acquire them after signup occurs in week 1.

'Who are You Trying to Reach?' Books:

These books focus on specific groups that churches target, sometimes by age or disenfranchisement, or on the overall methodology of "church" as we know and do it today. Choose one from this list (and remember that you also need to be able to "attend" the online discussion). Prices listed are Amazon's prices as of 2/22/14, and may fluctuate.

* We will be attempting to include the authors of these books in our online discussions. No guarantees, but we are working on it.

Turn-around Church Books:

Each of these has been cited by the leadership of vital congregations as being especially helpful to them in their turnaround work. Choose one from this list (and remember that you also need to be able to "attend" the online discussion). Prices listed are Amazon's prices as of 2/22/14, and may fluctuate.

Welcome!

1 page chart version of all course assignments by week

There is a Google Hangout every week beginning in week 2 - if you had trouble check here or contact the helpdesk@iliff.edu

Other Useful Links and Instructions:

This course is a lot like most forms of ministry - it has a lot of pieces.  Unlike ministry, all of these pieces are regular.

There are five categories of things to track - Canvas calls them "modules"

1. you will tweet daily for at least the first seven weeks of the course (we're creating a new habit of looking for the work of the Holy Spirit). 42 separate days of tweeting gets you 20 points for the assignment, 41 or fewer days of tweeting gets you 0 points. That's what "all or nothing" means in this course.

2. you will post weekly to two different discussions - Global evangelism  and Social networking - those are all due Sunday night. You will be in the same conversation group for both of these discussions. These discussions are each graded and can earn up to 2 pts each (total of 40 pts possible)

3. you will write five different versions of your own testimony to what difference your faith has made in your life. These are due every other week. You are in the same conversation group for these five postings as your discussions. These testimonies are "all or nothing" 8 pts each for a total of 40 pts possible. We understand that sharing your testimony and experimenting with different forums for it feels risky. We honor that risk-taking!

4. you will read, create a visual summary of what is useful in the material, post that "book diagram", and then meet in real time with one of the instructors in a virtual small group using Google+  These discussions are on opposite weeks from the testimonies. (we really did plan this out!)  Each reading group discussion is worth 15 points (based on the quality of your book diagram and your participation in the virtual small group) for 75 pts possible

5. in week 8 you will research a specific "turn-around church" and discuss questions you have about it in a virtual small group using Google+ (with one of the instructors). This prepares you for the following week.  15 pts possible for preparation and participation

6. in week 9 you will meet with the pastor (and sometimes lay people) of the church you researched in the same virtual small group using Google+ - this gives you a chance to ask questions and learn from colleagues. 15 pts possible for preparation and participation.  This week has generally involved lighter preparation and so you also have the final testimony due this week.

Week 10 ends on Wednesday at midnight so that we can get senior grades submitted in time for commencement. Everyone else is done then too.

Tom and Cathie have both taught this course before. We love all the pieces and we are each passionate about what a difference these skills make in your effectiveness as leaders in the UMC - regardless of your career path within it.

Course description:  (from the catalog)  Biblical, historical, and theological understandings of evangelism are examined in light of the church’s understanding of Christian mission and ministry. This course meets one of the requirements for ordination in The United Methodist Church.

Learning goals:

1. The student has clearly and succinctly stated what the “good news of Jesus” is in terms that are meaningful to the student and to populations that the student will serve.
2. The student has identified the transformation of individuals and structures that are explicit and implicit in this good news (as stated in #1).
3. The student clearly distinguishes between the multiple ecclesial and secular uses of the term “mission” in all her or his discourse.
4. The student established the daily habit of watching for and identifying divine activity in the midst of ordinary life at work, in school, in communities of faith, in civic communities, in family and friendship networks.
5. The student can describe, in general terms and using everyday language, a theological conversation about the nature of Christian mission, its problematic history, and its source in the mission of God.
6. The student analyzed two resources for structuring evangelism designed for his or her own cultural setting.
7. The student examined a turnaround congregation or a high commitment congregation or a church plant to see how the resources the student had analyzed applied and did not apply in real settings.
8. The student practiced interpreting the implications of a popular secular book for the practice of congregational outreach in mission and evangelism.

 MDiv Degree Learning Goals to which this course contributes:

2.2   identify and critically evaluate the symbolic systems and religious meanings at play in everyday events and interactions, institutional structures, and cultural artifacts

4.7   to clearly interpret one's beliefs and behavior to the community one serves

ADA Accomodation: Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact the Advising Center to start the process of arranging for accommodation.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY – see the Master’s Student Handbook.

Assignment: Tweet daily  on the subject - “One way I saw Holy Spirit active today”; [your goal is to develop the habit of looking for God’s presence at work in people’s lives and interactions with each other] daily for 7 weeks – minimum of 6x/week for a total of at least 42 tweets. This assignment should take 1 hour to learn and 15 minutes a day to do for a total of 11 ½ hours over the term. Part of the reason for this assignment is that it will cultivate a new habit – looking for what God is already doing around you in your daily life. This assignment  helps accomplish learning goal 4 .

If you already have a Twitter account, great! Please link it to your Canvas profile.  We will be using the hashtag  #iliffev   for this course. Send a #iliffev tweet so that Tom and Cathie know you are on. You can stop reading here.

If you have no idea what any of that meant, you need to create a Twitter account so that you can "tweet" daily. 

Tweets are a way to share a thought with the world, particularly people who are "following" you (they get your tweets displayed when they open their timeline). Tweets are 160 characters or less.

How do we find each other's tweets in this course?  Glad you asked!               If part of the 160 characters include the "hashtag"  #iliffev  then we can find each other's tweets related to this class. (You want this to happen, otherwise Tom and Cathie won't know to give you credit...)  You must include the # sign as part of the hashtag name  #iliffev  (short for Iliff evangelism course)

1. Go to www.Twitter.com   and follow the instructions to open an account. You will be asked to select a username. Often people do not use their real name for this. For example, Cathie's username is @revskates    The @ sign is given by Twitter. You will create a profile that describes you very briefly. This is publicly available information so choose what you say thoughtfully. You can also change your profile later (like when you change jobs or graduate).

2. Try tweeting something with the #iliffev hashtag.  This tells Tom and Cathie that you've got the hang of Twitter.

3. Explore the Twitter website a bit to get a feel for what Twitter can do.

4. If you want to you can access Twitter through your phone. If you don't have a smart phone you can connect through text messages (be sure you have unlimited texting, we're going to be generating a lot of tweets in this course!). Or, on smartphones you use the Twitter app.  If you don't want to access Twitter through your phone you'll just need to log on through your computer each day to tweet and to see what others have tweeted under our hashtag #iliffev 

For each book you read, you are asked to create a “book diagram” on one page that visually helps you recall the key ideas in the book and their relationships to other ideas in the book and to experiences, ideas, authors, realities outside the book. You are asked to post your “book diagram” to your reading group’s thread in the discussion for that book at least 24 hours before the discussion. It would be really wonderful if you had looked at the diagrams from your colleagues before the discussion begins. This practice will give you something to remember the book with AND it will significantly increase the quality of our discussion.

Here are some options for getting from the piece of paper on which you have created your diagram to having it posted: 1) use a scanner to make a pdf file and post the pdf file

2) use your cell phone camera to take a picture of the page, send it to yourself, download it to your computer, post the picture  (you may have to make a couple of tries to get a legible picture, but this CAN be done)

3) use a webplatform that allows you to diagram – Iliff’s IT folks have been using  http://prezi.com and may be able to help you if you get stuck using it. Post the link to your prezi diagram on your reading group's discussion thread.

4) create a Google doc. Your Iliff email already has your registered for this site. Link the doc to your reading group's discussion thread

5) invent a way that we haven't thought of yet! (maybe for the third or fourth one)

Hamilton_book_diagram.pdf   This is an example of a handwritten book diagram for one of Adam Hamilton's books

Shawn Kellogg created a Prezi version of Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point which is open to the public at http://prezi.com/-dsjrewfaqx9/copy-of-copy-of-the-tipping-point/  This takes a bit of skill so you might want to experiment later in the course after you feel confident about what a book diagram is.

Sign up for the Reading Groups (This will go live in mid-March) Before you sign up for a reading group, please note:

• Sign up for one reading group time for each reading . When you are done signing up, you should be in one group for the Nussbaum/Bosch reading, one group for the "Who Are You Trying to Reach?" reading (which will determine which material you read or view), one group for the Harnish reading, one group for the "Turnaround Church" reading (again, that will determine which book you read), and one group for the Peter Block reading.
• Each reading group should be considered full when there are five participants . Please (please, please) don't add your name to a group which already has five participants; if you do, we will (arbitrarily, capriciously) move you to another group. Canvas does not allow us to limit the number of self-signups, so we are using the honor system...

You might note that several of the Reading Groups for the "Who Are You Trying to Reach?" books are a little different: the author of the book is scheduled to join us for our Hangout. You will still need to post a book diagram. It would also be hospitable to think of a question you want to ask the author.

PS. don't panic if your tweets are not showing up below. We will be checking from Twitter.com  You can search on the hashtag yourself and make sure that your tweets are showing up on Twitter.com.